2017 was a fun year for movies and this year is going to be even better in terms of all of the incredible films that are coming out. And so, here are the movies I can’t wait to see this year. Enjoy!

Black Panther

When Black Panther debuted in Captain America: Civil War I was an immediate fan of this marvelous superhero. His suit was sleek and beautiful and his character was a perfect addition to the film. When I found out he was getting his own movie I was so excited! Now it’s coming out in little over a month and I can’t wait to see it break records left and right.

Next week there’s going to be a special preview of Black Panther during the College Football Championship and I believe that it’s probably just going to be an extended commercial but it if is something like an official sneak peek at the movie I’m going to be ecstatic. I can’t wait to see this movie!

A couple of weeks ago ALIEN: Covenant entered theaters and because of this I became very curious about the movie that started this frightening franchise. Now my first encounter with the horrific specimen wasn’t in the form of the movie. It instead was because of a game. A few years ago I obtained Mortal Combat X for my wonderful XBOX One. Through the months the game introduced new characters and one of them happened to be Alien. Now when I saw this terrifying creature I was excited. It was a new character to play on the fighting game and I am proud to say I am very good at him. I had no idea I was playing with a character that sparked sci-fi minds around the world and inspired a generation of creators who want to make anything remotely scary with aliens whether it be a movie or a game. When I found out it was a movie character I was definitely intrigued but I wasn’t completely interested in watching the film. Then I saw this new ALIEN flick coming out this May and my curiosity began to boil.

I didn’t want to see the new one because it didn’t excite me but I really wanted to see the original. I was told it was scary but I didn’t know it was going to be just as frightening as it was. When the movie came on I have to admit I was starting to get a little sleepy. The futuristic music and the quiet of the movie were very soothing. Even when they got to the planet I was still a little tired in the eyes. And then…that thing jumped on that guy’s face! After that, the movie captured me with its very disturbing and disgusting and horrific situations. I can’t tell you how much that alien parasite freaked me out. If I see any bug with creepy legs like that I’m going to be messed up. It’s going to take a while for the image of that parasite on that man’s face to get out of my mind.

Because this truly was a horror/sci-fi film things had to get worse. I watched that movie in wide-eyed terror. The crew was dropping like flies, the scientist Ash was an evil robot which was horrifying, and the ALIEN just kept showing up!

When that movie ended I understood why Sigourney Weaver is an icon still to this day. Her character, Ripley, is one of the bravest, toughest women I’ve ever seen in movies. She was afraid because who wouldn’t be. She was sane enough though to take command when everyone else was freaking out and strong enough to fight the Alien when it threatened her life.

The special effects for the 1979 film were stupendous. It’s 2017 and it still looks great. Yes a few things didn’t look real but nearly everything looked better than some stuff you’ll see in movies today (like Fantastic Beasts.)

And the director, Ridley Scott, is a genius. The way he moved the camera down the halls of that dark ship ever so slowly had me terrified. He truly captured the terrifying aspect of having a hostile alien life form on board a ship in the middle of space. I had watched some of his other movies like the Best Picture Winning Gladiator which is one of my favorite films and the Oscar-Nominated The Martian in 2015 but ALIEN was a whole other beast. It, to me, is his best work. What he did to the psyche was phenomenal. I can’t imagine the poor individuals in 1979 who went to go see it in the movies. I’m sure they had a long night.

ALIEN was so enjoyable I watched it again the next day because I was sure I had missed some information in the movie and it was still terrifying. It was actually kind of worse because I knew what was coming.

Because ALIEN was so good I decided I wanted to see the second one because I just wanted to know how they could possibly make another one. When I saw that the title was ALIENS I was already mortified. I watched the movie and I can say it was okay. I liked that it helped answer some questions I had from the first one and I liked the concept of the story. It was very obvious that Ridley Scott was no longer directing the movie. The mind behind the film was instead James Cameron, the director of fantastic movies such as Terminator, Rambo, and Avatar. And it was so apparent. It was a much more militaristic style film, there was more action than just suspenseful demises of unfortunate victims, and the look was much crisper and straightforward.

The movie was scary at times but it never reached the level of terror that the first one did. And it was very long. It felt like a rollercoaster that just doesn’t seem to end. It’s like when you go around that bend and you think the ride is over and then it tosses you somewhere else. That’s what ALIENS felt like by the end. I was ready for the movie to be over fifteen minutes before it was. It wasn’t terrible though. If I had to rank it from F to A+ I’d give it a B+. The first one is clearly a perfect film, it doesn’t need to be ranked. To truly understand the differences between the two films ALIEN was a horror/sci-fi film whereas ALIENS was a slightly scary action movie.

I’m so glad to say I’ve finally seen it. I loved that each movie was so good it didn’t need any inappropriate content. There was harsh language which is completely understandable and lots and lots of violence. And if ALIEN: Covenant happens to be good I’ll totally watch it when it’s available on Digital.